Unplanned use of intracoronary stents for the treatment of a suboptimal angiographic result after conventional balloon angioplasty

Stenting of long coronary artery lesions: initial angiographic results and 6-month clinical outcome of the micro stent II-XL

To evaluate the results of long Micro Stent II (MS-XL) implantations, 119 MS-XLs were implanted in 102 patients (age, 62.83 years). Nineteen stents (16%) were implanted in saphenous vein grafts; 100 stents (84%) were implanted in native coronary arteries. Twenty-five patients (25%) were treated because of acute myocardial infarction (AMI); 30 patients (29%) because of unstable angina or angina class IV, and 47 patients (46%) because of stable angina. Eighty-six de novo lesions (84%) and 16 restenotic lesions (16%) were treated. Indications for stent implantation include elective, 61 patients (60%); suboptimal balloon angioplasty result, 22 patients (21%); and bailout after balloon angioplasty, 19 patients (19%). Because of residual thrombus after stenting, 27 patients (26%) received abciximab. All patients received ticlopidin for 28 days and acetylsalicylic acid. One hundred and seventeen MS-XLs (98%) were implanted successfully. Additional (shorter) MS-II were implanted in 40 patients (39%). The stented segment length was 45 +/- 20 mm. The minimum lumen diameter increased from 0.5 +/- 0.5 mm before to 2.7 +/- 0.5 mm after stent implantation. The acute gain was 2.2 +/- 0.4 mm. Early clinical events (<4 weeks) include death, 3 (3%); subacute stent thrombosis, 1 (1%); non-Q-wave infarction, 2 (2%); CABG, 1 (1%); vascular complications, 2 (2%). Late clinical events (<6 months) include acute myocardial infarction, 5 (5%); reintervention, 6 (6%); CABG, 1 (1%). The procedural success rate was 88%, and the event free survival at 6 months was 76%. Stenting of long lesions with the MS-XL was successful and associated with an acceptable complication rate. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 48:105-112, 1999.

Angioplasty in the stent era: results of a consecutive series of patients undergoing coronary angioplasty without surgical backup

We prospectively studied the angiographic and clinical outcome in a group of 117 consecutive patients (140 vessels) undergoing coronary angioplasty in the stent ERA without surgical backup. There were no exclusion criteria. Intracoronary stents were deployed in 36 vessels (26%) either as a bailout procedure or for a suboptimal result following balloon angioplasty. Procedural success was achieved in 126 vessels in 108 patients (90%). Two patients developed Q-wave myocardial infarction and another two developed nonQ myocardial infarction. One patient died suddenly 2 days following an initially successful procedure. No patient was referred for emergency coronary artery bypass grafting and there were no vascular complications. Clinical or angiographic follow up was available in 87% of the patients and an angiographic follow up in 50% of the patients. At a median angiographic follow up of 210 days restenosis was seen in 34% of the vessels. Restenosis occurred in three of the 21 (14%) stented vessels and in 18 of the 41 (44%) nonstented vessels (P<0.02).

CONCLUSION

In the stent era, coronary angioplasty can be safely performed without surgical backup. A satisfactory immediate and long-term result could be achieved by stenting 26% of the vessels.

Directional coronary atherectomy (DCA): a report from the New Approaches to Coronary Intervention (NACI) registry

Directional coronary atherectomy (DCA) with the Simpson coronary atherocath seeks to debulk rather than simply displace obstructive tissue and is a means of enlarging the stenotic coronary lumen. This report from the New Approaches to Coronary Intervention (NACI) registry describes the experience of 1,196 patients who underwent DCA as the sole treatment for either native vessel or vein graft lesions. Device success (post-DCA residual stenosis <50% and > or =20% improvement) was achieved in 87.8%, with a lesion success rate (postprocedural residual stenosis <50% and > or =20% improvement) of 94.0%. The mean resultant stenosis after all interventions (by core laboratory) was 19%. Significant in-hospital complications occurred in 2.8% of patients with DCA attempts, including death 0.6%, Q-wave myocardial infarction (MI) 1.5%, and emergent coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) 2.8%. At 1-year follow-up, cumulative mortality was 3.6%, with repeat revascularization in 28% (repeat percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, 20.1%; CABG, 10.6%). This reflected percutaneous or surgical revascularization of the original lesion (target lesion revascularization) in 22.6% of patients. Subgroup analysis showed a lower lesion success rate and an increased complication rate for unplanned use, vein graft treatment, and treatment of a de novo (vs a restenotic) lesion. Multivariate analysis shows that diabetes mellitus, unstable angina, treatment of a restenotic lesion, and greater residual stenosis after the initial procedure were independent predictors of the composite endpoint of death/Q-wave MI/target lesion revascularization by 1-year follow-up. Among these generally favorable acute and 1-year results, the NACI directional atherectomy data confirm the "bigger is better" hypothesis: that lesions with a lower residual stenosis after a successful procedure had significantly fewer target lesion revascularizations between 30 days and 1 year, with no increase in major adverse events.